November 4, 2011

Full Council approves ‘pay-to-park’ plan

The Brooklyn Paper
by Daniel Bush

The full City Council overwhelmingly approved a controversial plan on Thursday to sell parking permits to neighbors of the Barclays Center arena, despite objections from southern Brooklyn lawmakers who say that charging for residential street parking amounts to a tax for something that has always been free.

The Council’s 40–8 vote came one day after the legislature’s State and Federal Legislation Committee approved the measure, which supporters say will prevent basketball fans and other arena-goers from hogging parking spaces in neighborhoods around a 19,000-seat arena that will have parking spaces for just 1,100 cars.

NoLandGrab: How's this for the height of arrogance: State Senator Marty Golden and City Councilmember Lew Fidler shilled for Atlantic Yards though it's miles from their districts, yet they oppose a measure that might provide a little bit of relief to the people who will bear the burden of the traffic the arena will generate.

Would you like to see resident-only parking come to your neighborhood?
a. Yes, we need to stop commuters and sports fans from using our streets as parking lots
b. Yes, but only during game days
c. No, it's a backdoor tax and my friends won't be able to park when they visit

“I can tell you right now, I am very much opposed to the street parking permit because it’s just another way the city will be taxing middle class homeowners,” said [Bob] Friedrich, who is President of Glen Oaks Village.

NLG: We're going to go out on a limb and guess that Bob Friedrich from Glen Oaks Village in Queens never attended any Atlantic Yards hearings, signed any petitions opposing Atlantic Yards, or donated any money to DDDB's legal fund. Are we right, Bob?

Parking in the slope is already a bitch, yet some fear that with Bruce Ratner's revenge the Barclay Center on it's way to completion, shit will get a whole lot worse. The city projects that the new arena, with more than 200 events planned a year, will bring in about 5,000 additional cars into the area. And they're all going to want to park somewhere for free.